Alabama GOP PAC violated new ban on transfers

Alabama Senate Majority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, acknowledged that $100,000 was accepted after the PAC transfer ban went into effect, but said it was an error. The Senate Republicans returned the money on Sept. 16. (The Huntsville Times/Glenn Baeske)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The Senate Republican Caucus political action committee and another GOP group broke a new law prohibiting transfers among PACs just two months after lawmakers approved the ban, according to campaign finance records.

But the state senators in charge of the PAC said it was a simple mistake and they returned the money after they caught the error.

The Republican State Leadership Committee Political Action Committee, based in Washington, D.C., gave the Senate Republican Caucus PAC $100,000 on Feb. 25, according to records filed Friday with the Alabama Secretary of State. The donation came roughly two months after lawmakers with much fanfare passed a ban on political action committees transfers.

The Senate Republicans returned the $100,000 on Sept. 16.

Senate Majority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, acknowledged that the money was accepted after the PAC transfer ban went into effect, but said it was an error.

"I'm not trying to make excuses, but it was probably a casual mistake is how I would describe it," Waggoner said.

"We returned it when we realized what had happened," Waggoner said.

Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, took over as treasurer of the Senate Republican Caucus PAC in May after the previous treasurer, a Senate staffer, left her job.

Reed said he had accountants conduct a review of the PAC records and discovered the $100,000 check and four other smaller ones from PACs that "were clearly outside the timeframe for the ethics law on PAC-to-PAC transfers." The four other checks totaled $35,000, Reed said.

Reed said all of the money was returned.

"We corrected it," Reed said.

Reed and Waggoner said there may have been some confusion since the PAC ban law was new at the time the checks were deposited.

However, a state Democrat accused Republicans of violating the law.

"A mistake isn't a good enough excuse to us," said Bradley Davidson, executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party.

"(Former) Governor (Bob) Riley and the Republican members of the Legislature pushed and pushed for these bills and claimed the mantle as the champion of ethics reform for years. They pushed these bills. They passed these bills and signed that bill and within hours and days later they turn around and violate the bill," Davidson said.

The Republicans violated the transfer ban even if they returned the money, Davidson said. However, State Democratic Executive Committee PAC also reported receiving a PAC contribution after the PAC transfer ban went into effect, according to campaign records.

The committee received $150 from the Patriots PAC on Sept. 8. The party recorded the money as a contribution.

Davidson said the money was not a contribution but was payment for the purchase of voter file records that the party sells to campaigns.

This was the second incident in which the Republican State Leadership Committee has been involved with transfers to GOP-related PACs after the PAC transfer ban went into effect.

The committee gave $50,000 to Riley's Alabama 2014 PAC on March 15.

Riley is the chair of the PAC, which he formed on March 1. The PAC's treasurer said it was a mistake to accept the funds and they were returned after it was discovered.

Adam Temple, a spokesman for the RSLC, said they also found the mistake. The $100,000 given to the Senate GOP group was discovered in an audit after the controversy over the donation to Riley's PAC, Temple said.

"We conducted a thorough internal audit, and we spotted this one," said Temple. "We realized this one was made in error and we requested that it be refunded."

Republicans emphasized they caught the mistake themselves.

"The rules were followed, every penny was disclosed and the mistaken contribution was returned long before anyone tried to play gotcha politics," said Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston.